Book Society Choices

The Book Society (1929-68) selected and recommended thousands of books to readers across the globe for nearly forty years. Members received a new hardback book each month, part of the publisher’s ordinary first edition (until the Second World War, when this changed due to paper shortages).

Records of the club have been lost. I initially pieced together the history of monthly choices from surviving copies of The Book Society News (held in the British Library from 1936 on) and uncovered the club’s impact on authors, publishers, and readers from records in publishers’ archives and in the  diaries and letters of judges involved.

Book Society bookplate, from the collection of Francis and Margaret Crichton

In summer 2024 I was contacted by Kate McKinnon whose maternal grandparents, Francis (Frank) and Margaret Crichton were Book Society members and had an almost complete collection. This enabled me to fill in some gaps and come face-to-face with the enormity a lifetime’s reading…

*Denotes fiction.

1950s

1929

1929

April 1929 The Love of the Foolish Angel* Helen Beauclerk Collins
May 1929 The Embezzlers* Valentine Katacv Ernest Behn Trans. from the Russian by Leonide Zarin.
June 1929 The Adventures of Ralph Rashleigh. A Penal Exile in Australia,1825-1844 Lord Birkenhead (ed.) Jonathan Cape
July 1929 Henry the Eighth Francis Hackett Jonathan Cape
August 1929 Nicky, Son of Egg* Gerald Bullett Heinemann
September 1929 A High Wind in Jamaica* Richard Hughes Chatto & Windus
October 1929 Whiteoaks* Mazo de la Roche Macmillan
November 1929 Gallopoli Memories Compton Mackenzie Cassells
December 1929 The Lacquer Lady* F. Tennyson Jesse Heinemann

1930s

1930

January 1930 All Our Yesterdays* H. M. Tomlinson Heinemann
February 1930 Kristin Lavransdatter* Sigrid Undset Cassell Trans. by Charles Archer and J. S. Scott
April 1930 _ And Co.* Jean-Richard Bloch Gollancz Trans. from the French by C. K. Scott Moncrieff
May 1930 The Edwardians* Vita Sackville-West Hogarth Press
June 1930 The Water Gipsies* A. P. Herbert Methuen
July 1930 Bengal Lancer Francis Yeats-Brown Gollancz
August 1930 A Note in Music* Rosamond Lehmann Chatto & Windus
September 1930 Grand Hotel* Vicki Baum Bles Trans. from the German by Basil Creighton.
October 1930 Mosaic* G. B. Stern Chapman and Hall
November 1930 The Fortunes of Richard Mahoney* H. H. Richardson (pseud. Ethel Florence Lindesay Richardson) Heinemann
December 1930 Diary of a Provincial Lady* E. M. Delafield Macmillan

1931

January 1931 Morning Tide* Neil M. Gunn The Porpoise Press
February 1931 Tobit Transplanted* Stella Benson Macmillan
March 1931 Juan in America* Eric Linklater Jonathan Cape
April 1931 My Northcliffe Diary Tom Clarke Gollancz
May 1931 Hatter’s Castle* A. J. Cronin Gollancz
June 1931 Red Ike* J. M. Denwood & S. Fowler Wright Hutchinson
July 1931 Humour and Fantasy* F. Anstey Murray
August 1931 The Forge* T. S. Stribling Heinemann
September 1931 Early Closing* D. Wynne Wilson Constable
October 1931 King Charles II Arthur Bryant Longmans
November 1931 Festival* Sruthers Burt Peter Davies
December 1931 Without My Cloak* Kate O’Brien Heinemann

1932

January 1932 The Brothers* L. A. G. Strong Gollancz
February 1932 The Fountain* Charles Morgan Macmillan
March 1932 Sir Walter Scott John Buchan Cassell & Co.
April 1932 The Life and Adventures of Aloysius O’Callaghan T. Washington-Metcalfe Heinemann
May 1932 The Soldier and the Gentlewoman* Hilda Vaughan (Mrs Charles Morgan) Gollancz
June 1932 Royal Flush. The Story of Minette* Margaret Irwin Chatto & Windus
July 1932 The Case is Altered* William Plomer Hogarth Press
August 1932 Golden Horn. Plot and Counterplot in Turkey, 1908-1918 as seen ‘from the inside’ by a prisoner of war Francis Yeats-Brown Gollancz
September 1932 Greenbanks* Dorothy Whipple John Murray
October 1932 Black Mischief Evelyn Waugh Chapman and Hall
November 1932 Memoirs of a British Agent R. H. Bruce Lockhart Putnam
December 1932 Stamboul Train* Graham Greene Heinemann

1933

January 1933 Pocahontas, or the nonparell of Virginia* David Garnett Chatto & Windus
February 1933 The Seventh Age or Saint Saturnin* Jean Schlumberger Gollancz Trans. by Dorothy Bussy
March 1933 Rhodes Sarah Gertrude Millin Chatto & Windus
April 1933 The Street of the Sandal-Makers. A Tale of Rome in the time of Marcus Aurelius* Nis Petersen Macmillan Trans. by Elizabeth Sprigge & Claude Napier.
May 1933 Twenty Years A-Growing Maurice O’Sullivan Chatto & Windus Rendered from the original Irish by Moya Llewelyn Davies and George Thomson’
June 1933 Hostages to Fortune* Elizabeth Cambridge Jonathan Cape
July 1933 Here Comes the King* Philip Lindsay Ivor Nicolson & Watson
August 1933 Ordinary Families* E. Arnot Robertson Jonathan Cape
September 1933 The Woman on the Beast* Helen Simpson Heinemann
October 1933 Flush, A Biography* Virginia Woolf Hogarth Press
November 1933 Blessington D’Orsay. A Masquerade Michael Sadleir Constable & Co.
December 1933 The Unforgotten Prisoner R. C. Hutchinson Cassell & Co.

1934

January 1934 A Warning to Wantons. Setting forth the not undeserved but awful fate which befell A Minx* Mary Mitchell Heinemann
February 1934 Queen Elizabeth J. E. Neale Jonathan Cape
March 1934 Matador* Marguerite Steen Gollancz
April 1934 Five Silver Daughters* Louis Golding Gollancz
May 1934 I, Claudius* Robert Graves Arthur Barker
June 1934 The Ginger Griffin* Ann Bridge Chatto & Windus
July 1934 Harvest in the North* James Lansdale Hodson Gollancz
August 1934 One’s Company. A Journey to China Peter Fleming Jonathan Cape
September 1934 Barnham Rectory* Doreen Wallace Collins
October 1934 Experiment in Autobiography. Being the Autobiography of H. G. Wells, vol. I H. G. Wells Gollancz
November 1934 The Proud Servant. The Story of Montrose* Margaret Irwin Chatto & Windus
December 1934 Heaven’s My Destination* Thornton Wilder Longmans, Green

1935

January 1935 This Was Ivor Trent* Claude Houghton Heinemann
February 1935 A London Story George Buchanan Constable
March 1935 The Shipbuilders* George Blake Faber & Faber
April 1935 National Velvet* Enid Bagnold Heinemann
May 1935 The Angel of the Assassination. Charlotte de Corday Joseph Shearing Heinemann
June 1935 The Jury* Gerald Bullett Dent
July 1935 George the Fourth Roger Fulford Duckworth
August 1935 Illyrian Spring* Ann Bridge Chatto & Windus
September 1935 Borzoi Igor Schwezoff Hodder & Stoughton
October 1935 Here Lies a Most Beautiful Lady* Richard Blaker Heinemann
November 1935 Gaudy Night* Dorothy L. Sayers Gollancz
December 1935 Antony (Viscount Knebworth), A Record of Youth Lord Lytton Peter Davies

1936

January 1936 See How They Run*  Jerrard Tickell Heinemann
February 1936 The Son of Marietta* Johan Fabricus, trans. by Irene Clephane and David Hallett Gollancz
March 1936 South Riding* Winifred Holtby Collins
April 1936 The Thinking Reed* Rebecca West Hutchinson
May 1936 The African Witch* Joyce Cary Gollancz
June 1936 Saint Joan of Arc Vita Sackville-West Cobden-Sanderson
July 1936 The Weather in the Streets* Rosamond Lehmann Collins
August 1936 News from Tartary Peter Fleming Jonathan Cape
September 1936 But Beauty Vanishes* Richard Blaker Heinemann
October 1936 August Folly* Angela Thirkell Hamish Hamilton
November 1936 Desert Encounter: An Adventurous Journey through Italian Africa  Knud Holmboe, trans. by Helga Holbek George Harrap
December 1936 Together and Apart* Margaret Kennedy Cassell

1937

January 1937 The Stranger Prince* Margaret Irwin Chatto & Windus
February 1937 The Happy Return* C. S. Forester Michael Joseph
March 1937 Present Indicative Noel Coward Heinemann
1937 Something of Myself (alternative choice) Rudyard Kipling Macmillan
April 1937 Man of December* Alfred Neumann Hutchinson Trans. from the German by Eden and Cedar Paul
May 1937 And So-Victoria* Vaughan Wilkins Macmillan
June 1937 Sugar in the Air* E. C. Large Jonathan Cape
July 1937 A Murder in Sydney* Leonard Mann Jonathan Cape
August 1937 Letters from Iceland W. H. Auden and Louis MacNeice Faber & Faber
September 1937 Under Capricorn* Helen Simpson Heinemann
October 1937 The Turning Wheels* Stuart Cloete Collins
November 1937 Enchanter’s Nightshade* Ann Bridge Chatto & Windus
December 1937 Portrait of a Village Francis Brett Young Heinemann With woodcuts by Joan Hassall
The Pasquier Chronicles* (alternative choice) Georges Duhamel J. M. Dent Trans. from the French by Beatrice de Holthoir

1938

January 1938 Northwest Passage* Kenneth Roberts
February 1938 The Rains Came. A Novel of Modern India* Louis Bromfield
March 1938 South Latitude F.D. Ommanney
April 1938 Count Belisarius* Robert Graves
May 1938 Scoop. A Novel about Journalists* Evelyn Waugh
June 1938 Crippled Splendour* Evan John
July 1938 The Impregnable Women* Eric Linklater
August 1938 Rebecca* Daphne du Maurier
September 1938 Testament* R. C. Hutchinson
October 1938 The Death of the Heart* Elizabeth Bowen
November 1938 Flying Colours* C. S. Forester
December 1938 Edgar Wallace: The Biography of a Phenomenon Margaret Lane

1939

January 1939 The Devil We Know* Pamela Frankau
February 1939 The Holy Terror* H. G. Wells
March 1939 Dynasty of Death* Taylor Caldwell
April 1939 The Patriot* Pearl Buck
May 1939 The Open Sky* L. A. G Strong
June 1939 Reaching for the Stars Nora Waln
July 1939 The Priory* Dorothy Whipple
August 1939 Love in the Sun Leo Walmsley
September 1939 One Way of Living James Bridie
October 1939 How Green Was My Valley* Richard Llewellyn
November 1939 Escape* Ethel Vance
December 1939 My American* Stella Gibbons

1940s

1940

January 1940 The Valiant Heart* George Blake
February 1940 The Provincial Lady in War-Time* E. M. Delafield
March 1940 The Thirties. 1930-1940 in Great Britain Malcolm Muggeridge
April 1940 Verdun* Jules Romains trans. by Gerard Hopkins
May 1940 Mine Inheritance* Frederick Niven
June 1940 The Mixture as Before* Somerset Maugham
July 1940 The Near and the Far* L. H. Myers
August 1940 Night in Bombay* Louis Bromfield
September 1940 The Earthly Paradise* C. S. Forester
October 1940 The Voyage* Charles Morgan
November 1940 Whiteoak Heritage* Mazo de la Roche
December 1940 English Saga (1840-1940) Arthur Bryant

1941

January 1941 Kings’ Masque*  Evan John
February 1941 Into Battle: Winston Churchill’s War Speeches  Winston Churchill
March 1941 For Whom the Bell Tolls* Ernest Hemingway
April 1941 The Story of J. M. B. (Sir James Barrie) Denis Mackail
May 1941 The Bay* L. A. G. Strong
June 1941 Winged Words. Our Airmen Speak for Themselves  Royal Air Force and Women’s Auxiliary Air Force
July 1941 The Earth is the Lords* Taylor Caldwell
August 1941 The Captain from Connecticut* C. S. Forester
September 1941 The Blind Man’s House* Hugh Walpole
October 1941 The Sun is My Undoing* Marguerite Steen
November 1941 Mr Bunting at War* Robert Greenwood
December 1941 The Gay Galliard. The Love Story of Mary Queen of Scots* Margaret Irwin

1942

January 1942 A Thousand Shall Fall*  Hans Habe  trans. by Norbert Guterman
February 1942 H. M. Pulham, Esquire* John P. Marquand
March 1942 Put Out More Flags* Evelyn Waugh
April 1942 Musk and Amber* A. E. W. Mason
May 1942 A Leaf in the Storm: A Novel of War-Swept China*  Lin Yutang
June 1942 The Last Enemy Richard Hillary
The Moon is Down* [joint selection] John Steinbeck
July 1942 Barometer Rising* Hugh MacLennan
August 1942 No selection
September 1942 Anna*  Norman Collins
October 1942 War in the Sun James Lansdale Hodson
November 1942 The Song of Bernadette* Franz Werfel trans. by Ludwig Lewisohn
December 1942 War and Peace*  Leo Tolstoy trans. by Louise and Aylmer Maude

1943

January/February 1943 Assignment in Brittany*  Helen McInnes
March 1943 The Last of Summer* Kate O’Brien
April 1943 The Two Marshalls  Philip Guedalla
May/June 1943 The Ship C. S. Forester
July 1943 Anna Karenina*  Leo Tolstoy trans. by Rochelle S. Townsend
August 1943 Call No Man Happy André Maurois trans. by Denver and Jane Hastings Lindley
September/October 1943 Cloudless May*  Storm Jameson
November 1943 They Were Sisters* Dorothy Whipple
December 1943 The Small Back Room* Nigel Balchin

1944

January/February 1944 So Little Time*  John P. Marquand
March 1944 Other Men’s Flowers  ed. by A. P. Wavell
April 1944 Indigo*  Christine Weston
May/June 1944 Ma Wei Slope* Keith West
July 1944 Memories of Happy Days  Julian Green
August 1944 Yeoman’s Hospital*  Helen Ashton
September/October 1944 The Ballad and the Source*  Rosamond Lehmann
November 1944 Fair Stood the Wind for France*  H. E. Bates
December 1944 Persuasion* Jane Austen

1945

January/February 1945 The Aesthetic Adventure William Gaunt
March 1945 To All The Living*  Monica Felton
April 1945 Call The Next Witness*  Philip Woodruff
May/June 1945 Brideshead Revisited* Evelyn Waugh
July 1945 Folly Bridge. A Romantic Tale* D. L. Murray
August 1945 Singing Waters* Ann Bridge
September/October 1945 Mine Own Executioner*  Nigel Balchin
November 1945 London Belongs to Me* Norman Collins
December 1945 Siegfried’s Journey Siegfried Sassoon

1946

January/February 1946 Horned Pigeon: A Record of Adventure George Millar
March 1946 Private Angelo Eric Linklater
April 1946 The White Tower* James Ramsay Ullman
May_June 1946 That Lady* Kate O’Brien
July 1946 Man-Eaters of Kumaon Jim Corbett
August 1946 Britannia Mews* Margery Sharp
September/October 1946 The Westering Sun* George Blake
November 1946 The Happy Prisoner* Monica Dickens
December 1946 Brensham Village John Moore

1947

January/February 1947 The Wind Cannot Read* Richard Mason
March 1947 The Last Days of Hitler H. R. Trevor-Roper
April 1947 Two Names Upon the Shore* Susan Ertz
May/June 1947 The Chequer Board* Nevil Shute
July 1947 The Mountain Village* Chun-Chan Yeh
August 1947 Chatterton Square* E. H. Young
September 1947 Autobiography Neville Cardus
October 1947 The House by the Sea* Jon Godden
November/December 1947 The Purple Plain* H.E. Bates

1948

January 1948 Thérèse François Mauriac
February 1948 The Field of the Stranger* Olivia Robertson
March 1948 The Walled City* Elspeth Huxley
April 1948 Great Morning Osbert Sitwell
May 1948 The Heart of the Matter* Graham Greene
June/July 1948 Before the Deluge* Mark Aldanov
August 1948 The Americans Geoffrey Gorer
September 1948 The Sky and the Forest* C. S. Forester
October/November 1948 The Gathering Storm Winston Churchill
December 1948 No Highway* Nevil Shute

1949

January 1949 The Jacaranda Tree* H. E. Bates
February/March 1949 The Heat of the Day* Elizabeth Bowen
April 1949 I Capture the Castle* Dodie Smith
May 1949 The Willow Cabin* Pamela Frankau
June 1949 A Sort of Traitors* Nigel Balchin
July/August 1949 Love in a Cold Climate* Nancy Mitford
September 1949 Eastern Approaches Fitzroy Maclean
October 1949 A Writer’s Note Book W. Somerset Maugham
November 1949 Alice* Elizabeth Eliot
December 1949 The White South* Hammond Innes

1950s

1950

January 1950 A Few Flowers for Shiner* Richard Llewellyn
February/March 1950 The Feast* Margaret Kennedy
April 1950 The Kon-Tiki Expedition Thor Heyerdahl
May 1950 The World My Wilderness* Rose Macauley
June 1950 A Town Like Alice* Nevil Shute
July/August 1950 Behold Thy Daughter* Neil Paterson
September 1950 Florence Nightingale Cecil Woodham-Smith
October 1950 Strait and Narrow* Geoffrey Cotterell
November 1950 The Age of Elegance Arthur Bryant
December 1950 The World is a Bridge* Christine Weston

1951

January/February 1951 The Loved and the Envied* Enid Bagnold
March 1951 The Little Madeleine Mrs Robert Henrey
April 1951 World Within World Stephen Spender
May 1951 Festival at Farbridge* J. B. Priestley
June 1951 Round the Bend* Nevil Shute
July/August 1951 A Dragon Apparent Norman Lewis
September 1951 The Cruel Sea* Nicholas Monsarrat
October 1951 The Long Memory* Howard Clewes
November 1951 Children of the Archbishop* Norman Collins
December 1951 Lucy Carmichael* Margaret Kennedy

1952

January/February 1952 Venture to the Interior* Laurens van der Post
March 1952 Reputation for a Song* Edward Grierson
April 1952 Patrice Périot Georges Duhamel, trans. by E. F. Bozman
May 1952 Victory* Joseph Conrad
June 1952 A Many-Splendoured Thing Han Suyin
July/August 1952 Campbell’s Kingdom* Hammon Innes
September 1952 The Island* Jean Matheson
October 1952 Love for Lydia* H. E. Bates
November 1952 Annapurna Maurice Herzog
December 1952 The Cardboard Crown* Martin Boyd

1953

January/February 1953 Who Goes Home* Maurice Edelman
March 1953 The Singer not the Song* Audrey Erskine Lindop
April 1953 The Echoing Grove* Rosamond Lehmann
May 1953 Fenny* Lettice Cooper
June 1953 Like Men Betrayed* John Mortimer
July/August 1953 The Overloaded Ark Gerald M. Durrell
September 1953 Seven Years in Tibet Heinrich Harrer
October 1953 The Go-Between* L. P. Hartley
November 1953 The Reason Why Cecil Woodham-Smith
December 1953 The Gipsy in the Parlour* Margery Sharp

1954

January/February 1954 The Crooked Wall* Faith Compton Mackenzie
March 1954 Madame de Pompadour Nancy Mitford
April 1954 The Tortoise and the Hare* Elizabeth Jenkins
May 1954 Bhowani Junction* John Masters
June 1954 A Wreath for the Enemy* Pamela Frankau
July/August 1954 The Governor’s Wife* David Unwin
September 1954 The Wilder Shores of Love* Lesley Blanch
October 1954 The Faithful Ally* Eric Linklater
November 1954 The Corner-Stone* Zoé Oldenbourg
December 1954 The Young Have Secrets* James Courage

1955

January/February 1955 The Hidden River* Storm Jameson
March 1955 A World of Love* Elizabeth Bowen
April 1955 Going to the Wars John Verney
May 1955 We Die Alone Daniel Howarth
June 1955 Memoirs of Hadrian* Marguerite Yourcenar
July/August 1955 The Shiralee* D’Arcy Niland
September 1955 The Fall of the Sparrow* Nigel Balchin
October 1955 H. M. S. Ulysses* Alistair MacLean
November 1955 Portrait of Vincent Lawrence & Elizabeth Hanson
December 1955 The Quiet American* Graham Greene

1956

January/February 1956 Bugles and a Tiger John Masters
March 1956 The Long View* Elizabeth Jane Howard
April 1956 The Long Walk Slavomir Rawicz
May 1956 Anglo-Saxon Attitudes Angus Wilson
June 1956 The Proving Flight* David Beaty
July/August 1956 …And the Rain my Drink* Han Suyin
September 1956 The Towers of Trebizond* Rose Macaulay
October 1956 My Family and Other Animals Gerald Durrell
November 1956 Twilight for the Gods* Ernest Gann
December 1956 Madame Solario* Gerald Bullett

1957

January/February 1957 The Fountain Overflows* Rebecca West
March 1957 Without Love* Gerald Hanley
April 1957 The Last Migration Vincent Cronin
May 1957 This Hallowed Ground Bruce Catton
June 1957 The Awakened* Zoe Oldenbourg
July/August 1957 Bitter Lemons Lawrence Durrell
September 1957 The Grand Catch* Gil Buhet
October 1957 The Volcanoes Above Us* Norman Lewis
November 1957 March the Ninth* R. C. Hutchinson
December 1957 Voss* Patrick White

1958

January/February 1958 A Letter to Elizabeth Bettina Linn
March 1958 The Roots of Heaven* Romain Gary
April 1958 Aku-Aku Thor Heyerdahl
May 1958 The Director* Alan Thomas
June 1958 They Came to Cordura* Glendon Swarthout
July/August 1958 The Law* Roger Vaillard, trans. by Peter Wiles
September 1958 The King Must Die* Mary Renault
October 1958 The Time of the Dragons* Alice Ekert-Rotholz
November 1958 The Bell* Iris Murdoch
December 1958 Mani Patrick Leigh Fermor

1959

January/February 1959 Women and Thomas Harrow* John P. Marquand
March 1959 The Flame Trees of Thika* Elspeth Huxley
April 1959 The Dark Dancer* Balachandra Rajan
May 1959 Mistress to an Age J. Christopher Herold
June 1959 A Guest and His Going* P. H. Newby
July/August 1959 The Lion* Joseph Kessel
September 1959 The Humbler Creation* Pamela Hansford-Johnson
October 1959 The Defeat of the Spanish Armada Garrett Mattingly
November 1959 Cider with Rosie Laurie Lee
December 1959 I Can Take It All Anthony Glyn

1960s

1960

January/February 1960 Two Weeks in Another Town* Irwin Shaw
March 1960 The Patriots* James Barlow
April 1960 The Affair* C. P. Snow
May 1960 The Leopard* Giuseppe di Lampedusa
June 1960 That Great Lucifer: A Portrait of Sir Walter Raleigh Margaret Irwin
July/August 1960 A Kind of Loving* Stan Barstow
September 1960 The Shorn Lamb* John Stroud
October 1960 To Kill a Mocking Bird* Harper Lee
November 1960 The L-Shaped Room* Lynne Reid Banks
December 1960 The White Nile Alan Moorehead

1961

January/February 1961 Scenes from Married Life* William Cooper
March 1961 The Journey Homeward* Gerald Hanley
April 1961 All We Possess* Edward Hyams
May 1961 The Business of Loving* Godfrey Smith
June 1961 A Tudor Tragedy Lacey Baldwin Smith
July/August 1961 The Minister* Maurice Edelman
September 1961 The Road Past Mandalay John Masters
October 1961 George: An Early Autobiography Emlyn Williams
November 1961 Devil of a State* Anthony Burgess
December 1961 A Handful of Time* Helen Foley

1962

January/February 1962 The Road from the Monument* Storm Jameson
March 1962 The Bull from the Sea* Mary Renault
April 1962 The Birds of Paradise* Paul Scott
May 1962 The Wind Off the Sea*  David Beaty
June 1962 An Unofficial Rose* Iris Murdoch
July/August 1962 Hornblower and The Hotspur* C. S. Forester
September 1962 Atlantic Fury* Hammond Innes
October 1962 Brendan Behan’s Island. An Irish Sketchbook Brendan Behan
November 1962 Get Ready for Battle* R. Prawer Jhabvala
December 1962 Lady Jane Grey  Hester W. Chapman

1963

January/February 1963 Bonaparte in Egypt J. Christopher Herald
March 1963 Fail-Safe* Eugene Burdick and Harvey Wheeler
April 1963 Before My Time* Niccolò Tucci
May 1963 The Knight and the Umbrella* Ian Anstruther
June 1963 Diamond River Sadio Garavani di Turno, trans. by Peter Green
July/August 1963 Ice Station Zebra* Alistair MacLean
September 1963 Throw Out Two Hands Anthony Smith
October 1963 As The Falcon Her Bells Phillip Glasier
November 1963 The Group* Mary McCarthy
December 1963 The Grove of Eagles* Winston Graham

1964

January/February 1964 Coin of Carthage* Bryher
March 1964 The Most Dangerous Game* Gavin Lyall
April 1964 The Hand of Mary Constable* Paul Gallico
May 1964 The Lonely Sea and The Sky Francis Chichester
June 1964 The Ordeal of Major Grigsby* John Sherlock
July/August 1964 Louis XIV Vincent Cronin
September 1964 Victoria R.I. Elizabeth Longford
October 1964 Julian* Gore Vidal
November 1964 Corridors of Power* C. P. Snow
December 1964 The Night in Lisbon* Erich Maria Remarque

1965

January/February 1965 Paris in The Terror. June 1792-July 1794 Stanley Loomis
March 1965 The General Next to God Richard Collier
April 1965 The Berlin Memorandum* Adam Hall
May 1965 The Ambassador* Morris West
June 1965 Ramage* Dudley Pope
July/August 1965 Lost Empires* J. B. Priestley
September 1965 Lucy* Hester Chapman
October 1965 The Source*  James Michener
November 1965 Fruit of the Poppy* Robert Wilder
December 1965 Thomas. A Novel of the Life Passion and Miracles of Beckett* Shelley Mydans

1966

January/February 1966 The Fatal Impact. An Account of the Invasion of the South Pacific 1767-1840 Alan Moorehead
March 1966 Hall of Mirrors* John Rowan Wilson
April 1966 Somerset and all the Maughams Robin Maugham
May 1966 The Magus* John Fowles
June 1966 The Double Image* Helen MacInnes
July/August 1966 A Long Way to Shiloh* Lionel Davidson
September 1966 Papa Hemingway A.E.Hotchner
October 1966 When Eight Bells Toll* Alistair Maclean
November 1966 The Elizabethan Epic Lacey Baldwin Smith
December 1966 The Night is a Time for Listening* Elliot West

1967

January/February 1967 The Secret of Santa Vittoria*  Robert Crichton
March 1967 Night Falls on the City* Sarah Gainham
April 1967 Shark Island* Maurice Edelman
May 1967 The Eighth Day* Thornton Wilder
June 1967 Hornblower and the Crisis* C. S. Forester
July/August 1967 Sea and Islands* Hammond Innes
September 1967 The Gabriel Hounds* Mary Stewart
October 1967 The Facemaker* Richard Gordon
November 1967 Chips: The Diaries of Sir Henry Channon ed. Robert Rhodes James
December 1967 Michel, Michel* Robert Lewis

1968

January/February 1968 The Nice and The Good* Iris Murdoch